(A) On total and permanent disability occurring while in the performance of an act or acts of police duty as a member of the Police Department, a member shall be entitled to receive an annuity equal to 75 % of his or her final rate of base salary, payable until termination of disability, or death, whichever occurs first. On his or her death due to such disability, the benefits provided under § 32.119 shall be payable subject to the provisions thereof; otherwise § 32.120 shall be applicable.
(B) Any annuity for occupational disability shall begin to accrue as of the date of disability of the members. However, if he or she receives salary or other form of compensation from the city for absence on account of the disability, commencement of the annuity shall be deferred until payment of the salary or compensation ceases.
(C) In the event any member in receipt of occupational disability recovers from the disability and desires to reenter active service, the member must meet the civil service physical requirements in order to be able to return to the police force. In the event the member does reenter active service, he or she shall enter with the same seniority that he or she had attained at the time that he or she left the force due to the occupational disability.
(D) If, at the time benefits are initially calculated under this section larger benefits would be payable under the provisions of § 32.118(A), the provisions of that section shall be applied. No recalculations will be made after payments under this section commence in order to reflect the provisions of § 32.118(B).
(E) All disability annuities under this section are subject to the provisions of § 32.127, and no annuities hereunder shall be payable unless the provisions of that section are followed.
(F) In addition to the requirement that the disability occur while in the performance of an act or acts of police duty as a member of the Police Department, for any member to qualify for an occupational disability annuity such disability must be deemed total and permanent. A “total and permanent disability” for the purposes hereof is one which results from some impairment of mind or body that substantially precludes a person from performing with reasonable regularity the substantial and material parts of any gainful work or occupation that he or she would be competent to perform were it not for the fact that the impairment is founded on conditions which render it reasonably certain it will continue indefinitely. A member shall be considered totally and permanently disabled after the Board has received written certification by at least two licensed and practicing physicians selected by the Board that the member is totally and likely to be permanently disabled for the further performance of the duties of any assigned position in the service of the Police Department. If on consideration of the report of the physicians and such other evidence as shall have been presented to it by the member or others interested herein the Board finds the member to be totally and permanently disabled, it shall grant him or her an occupational disability retirement annuity, provided the requirements of subsection (A) above, are met. To assist the physicians in making this decision the Board may make copies of the definitions contained herein available to the physicians.
(G) Pursuant to KRS 79.080, any member who has completed five years or more of service as a member of the Police Department, but who is unable to perform his or her duties by reason of heart disease or any disease of the lungs or respiratory tract, is presumed to have contracted the disease while on active duty as a result of strain or the inhalation of noxious fumes, poison, or gases and shall be eligible for disability retirement under this section if he or she passed an entrance physical examination and was found to be in good health as required. However, this presumption may be rebutted and the Board of Trustees may find on the evidence presented to and heard by it that the disease was not contracted while on active duty or, notwithstanding the existence of the disease, that the member is able to perform his or her duties as a member of the Police Department. Any such member denied retirement under this section may nevertheless be eligible for retirement under § 32.123.
(1999 Lou. Code, § 36.111) (Lou. Ord. No. 91-1973, approved 6-29-1973; Lou. Am. Ord. No. 102-1977, approved 10-5-1977; Lou. Metro Am. Ord. No. 64-2004, approved 6-3-2004)